Flying Solo...

So Whitney's been in Boston for 3 days now, with 3 days to go. I'm actually really enjoying the time with the boys, doing the daily stuff and seeing them throughout the day instead of a few minutes in the morning and a few hours at night. The "full day experience" is certainly a much better window into their personalities. Me and one of the other dads were talking yesterday, and we reached the conclusion that: a) staying home with the kids is fun, b) the kids seem to behave better for us, probably because c) if we stayed home with them all the time, they'd treat Mom better than us (in other words, they misbehave most for the primary caretaker). However, in consultation with one other dad who's staying home, we jointly agreed that it's a good thing the wives are in charge of cooking, because even though we CAN cook, we don't enjoy it and don't have the patience for it!

Apparently this "Dad taking care of the kids" thing is unusual; the old ladies at the Y who watch the kids were aware I was flying solo, so when I came in on Friday they said "Here's the bravest man we know!" "3 kids, 6 days all by yourself! What a hero!" When I came in to pick them up an hour later after my workout, they told this mom picking up her kids, "See that guy? He's taking care of all 3 kids for 6 DAYS!" She just looked at me like, "You're doing what?" I guess I missed the memo that said Dads are exempt from major child care duties!

A few low points during the past few days:
1. Winston's incessant whining. I'm thinking he's got some teeth coming in. 7pm couldn't come fast enough Friday night. If I could give him an IV drip of Tylenol I'd do it.
2. The deluge we got Friday and Saturday. Besides limiting play options, my boys (all of them) scream like little girls when they hear thunder, and there was a LOT the past two days.
3. Primary was a bit rough - Dan and I both had our littlest ones for all of Church today; luckily they didn't melt down at the same time.

High points:
1. Noah and Owen independently coming up to me throughout the past few days, giving me a hug and saying "You're the best Dad ever!".
2. Winston laying his head down on my chest and snuggling in (he's NOT a snuggler) - this gives me some hope that it's his teeth and not my shoddy parenting that's the cause of his whining.
3. Witnessing cooperation between Noah and Owen - they're both asleep in Noah's top bunk right now, with Noah's arm over Owen - maybe Owen was scared? Who cares, they're actually being nice to one another!

While I know Whitney's the better choice as primary caretaker, I'm glad to have this chance to really experience "A Day in the Life of Mom". And seeing as the girls in Boston are already talking about something in 2010, I guess I'd better get used to it...